While giving evidence to the committee, Cooke answered “yes I do” when asked by MPs whether she thought sexism was culturally embedded in British Cycling.

The 2008 road race champion also said they did “nothing for the women” and that the body showed only “transient” support for female road riders.

Regarding Cooke’s accusations, British Cycling said in a statement: “There is always more that can be done and we strive to make continual improvements to ensure that cycling is reaching out to women and girls of all ages and abilities.”

‘It’s the subtle things that can be quite damaging’

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Cooke cited numerous examples of “discrimination and favouritism” shown by British Cycling as part of her written evidence to MPs

Barker says issues beneath the surface of Cooke’s accusations do need to be addressed.

“I think sometimes it’s the subtle things that can be quite damaging – the choice of music while the women are racing can often be quite trivial and it downgrades the racing a little bit,” Barker continued.

“When the men have got awesome rock theme tunes to their racing, it makes it more exciting and it draws the crowd in, whereas when the woman’s is on, there’s this sort of fluffy music and it doesn’t make the crowd that excited.

“There are different levels to it. Equality needs to be across it all rather than just focusing on the pay gap. It needs to be all these little things to raise the profile of women’s cycling.”

An independent review into British Cycling was set up after former technical director Shane Sutton was accused of using offensive and discriminatory language towards cyclist Jess Varnish.

Sutton was cleared of eight of the nine charges against him, but was found guilty of using sexist language. He denies any wrongdoing.